Cherry Bottom could be forced to close briefly for repairs

Wednesday

Jan 27, 2010 at 12:01 AMJan 27, 2010 at 7:22 PM

Gahanna has plans to repair an aging curb at U.S. Route 62 at Stygler Road, fix a deteriorating bank affecting Cherry Bottom Road and allow farming to continue this year on the undeveloped portion of Tech Center Drive West.

Gahanna has plans to repair an aging curb at U.S. Route 62 at Stygler Road, fix a deteriorating bank affecting Cherry Bottom Road and allow farming to continue this year on the undeveloped portion of Tech Center Drive West.

The bank repair could force Cherry Bottom Road to close temporarily.

Gahanna City Council's public-service and safety committee Jan. 25 discussed all three projects, which require the full council's approval.

The problem with Cherry Bottom Road is a bank that is deteriorating beneath the road, between Walnut Woods Court and Springbrook Drive.

City engineer Karl Wetherholt said a fix completed several years ago is failing, which is evidenced by a crack in the road. He wants to install a sheet-piling wall to stabilize the bank. He said a sheet-piling wall contains long thin sections of steel with interlocking edges. They are driven into the bank in a row to form a wall and hold the steep bank back. The bank seems to be too steep to hold as is, he said.

The city engineer's department received three quotes on the project, the lowest being $57,720. Wetherholt said he is requesting that council waive the bidding process and accept the lowest of the three quotes.

Wetherholt said that if council were to waive bidding for the project, the city would need to begin the public process of notifying neighbors because that road could close for up to a week for the project. He said there is no good alternate route and it would affect several places, such as Columbus Academy. Work is expected to be done sometime this year, and he called the public-notification process a "critical component" of the project.

Wetherholt said the work on Route 62 involves repairing a crumbling curb and a guardrail in the median off Interstate 670, from the corporation limits to Stygler Road.

The guardrail is being replaced with a barrier wall, similar to the one along the rest of I-670. Wetherholt said the barrier walls on I-670 and the guardrail on Route 62 were both installed at the same time, but the barrier walls outlasted the guardrail.

"We're hoping this (barrier wall) will have a longer life span than the guardrail," he said.

The project includes the addition of a turning lane to the southbound lanes of Stygler Road at Route 62.

Wetherholt said that when the third lane is added, one of two existing lanes would be devoted to right turns only. He said that should help ease some of the traffic in the intersection and decrease the bottleneck that occurs during peak travel times.

Michael Andrako, Gahanna's assistant engineer, said the project is being funded through the Ohio Public Works Commission (OPWC). Twenty-four percent of the estimated $1.4-million project will be paid for with an OPWC grant. The rest will be paid for with a 20-year, no-interest loan through the OPWC.

"It's a pretty good deal," Andrako said.

Council is required to request bids for the project.

Andrako said the design was completed in 2009 and the city intends to have construction completed by August, prior the next school year. He said after a bid is accepted and a contract is signed, council might be able to waive second reading of the bid acceptance so the legislation could be enacted and construction could begin in March.

Wetherholt also requested that council consider amending its donation agreement for the right of way for the Tech Center Drive West extension so the land could be farmed in 2010.

"We're not going to do any construction in 2010 anyway, so it might as well be farmed," he said.

Council also is expected to pass new legislation to officially dedicate YMCA Place, which was not dedicated when built because of a legislative error.

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